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England guaranteed their place in the finals of Euro2012 after equality in Montenegro (2:2). The joy of getting was marred by the stupid act of Wayne Rooney, who in the second half kick-ball and Miodrag Dzhudovich receive straight red card.

The grim predictability of the Three Lions’ second-half collapse, after having looked so comfortable at 2-0 just before half-time, was mirrored by the striker’s proclivity to petulance, and rather than help turn the screw in Podgorica, one went loose for the Manchester United man.

Having lost out to Miodrag Dzudovic in the centre of the park with just over a quarter of an hour remaining, Rooney kicked out at the defender’s legs in an act of mindless immaturity. Referee Wolfgang Stark rightly produced the red card to send the 25-year-old off and make him only the second England player of the 900 to have been capped to have been dismissed twice.

You can’t help but think that it was an act of frustration borne out of more than a poor second-half showing, with the striker’s father and uncle having both been arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in a betting scandal, but whether that begins to explain such recklessness is as irrelevant as it is conjecture.

The automatic one-match ban that comes with a red card is not applicable to England’s friendly fixture with Spain in November, meaning that Rooney will at the very least miss the Three Lions’ opening Euro 2012 clash in Poland or Ukraine and, for the third time in his career, the striker will enter a major tournament with a cloud hanging over his head.

"I spoke with him just five minutes ago," Capello told a press conference on Thursday afternoon. "I found him relaxed and calm - no problem for the game we play against Montenegro. He told me there would be no problems and that there should be a resolution in a short time."